Some People Have Real Problems
| Sia
Some People Have Real Problems
Some People Have Real Problems is the fourth studio album by Australian singer Sia. Released in 2008, the album featured singles including "Day Too Soon", "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine" and "Soon We'll Be Found". In live performances of the latter song, Sia used sign language to accompany her singing. The album displays a more upbeat pop-style than Sia's previous downbeat albums, whilst show-casing Sia's vocals on a number of big ballads. Non-single track, "Buttons", received attention due to its video in which Sia's face is distorted by pegs, string, net, condoms and many other things. The album debuted at number 26 on the US Billboard 200 chart which became Sia's first album to chart on the Billboard 200 in her career.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Longtime vocal contributor to the likes of Zero 7 and Massive Attack returns with her fourth solo album, a user-friendly, electronics-free easy-listening session featuring a little Beck and a lot of ballads.
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BBC
For at the heart of Some People Have Real Problems is a grown-up and brave album of jazz pop. It deserves your attention.
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Slant Magazine
Released just one week and one day into 2008, Sia’s Some People Have Real Problems is the first great pop album of the new year.
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PopMatters
The demographics overlap, maybe, but it doesn’t bode well for those hoping for some return to relevance from the singer who promised, early on, to rival other Aussie songstresses like George, Sarah Blasko, and Clare Bowditch.
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The Guardian
Some People Have Real Problems is a brilliant album title, bold and accusatory; it implies Sia Furler is a woman who wants to stand out, to impose her own idiosyncratic vision on pop. It is about as far as her spirit stretches, though.
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ALL MUSIC
The newly varied arrangements, moods, and textures of this album, from the mournful piano-led cover of the Kinks' "I Go to Sleep" through the horn-based R&B swing of "Electric Bird" to the sarcastic bounce of "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine," make Some People Have Real Problems Sia's most engrossing and satisfying album yet.
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Spin
On her slinky and seductive third studio album, Sia Furler vacillates gamely between Norah Jones smoky (“Little Black Sandals,” “Day Too Soon”) and Beth Orton ambient (“Lentil,” “Playground”).
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Musician's Friend
The album displays a more upbeat pop-style than Sia's previous downbeat albums, whilst show-casing Sia's vocals on a number of big ballads.
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Entertainment
Sia ditches the sleepy pace of prior efforts for a throatier soul sound that jibes with her quietly crescendoing tunes on some people have REAL problems.
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Behind the Hype
After all is said and done though, my favorite track by far is Track 10, Soon We’ll Be Found. It gave me that ah-ha moment we receive when someone says exactly what you are trying to get across. The chorus lingers in my head, and put this album on my list for one of the best albums of 2008. . . .
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Sputnik Music
The corky sensual singer-songwriter delivers another quality album with the themes of optimism and personal growth.
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axs
Fans who have already embraced the soulful magic Sia brings with her fourth studio album can now treasure it in another format. Given the recent resurgence of vinyl releases, the brand-new vinyl edition of Some People Have Real Problems is a must-have for both Sia fans and vinyl collectors.
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Music OMH
Yet the trouble is that nothing here particularly stands out, particularly in the crowded market place that Sia now finds herself occupying.
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NOW Magazine
Don’t even pretend you need this review. If you’ve enjoyed Sia’s voice and/or music before, you’ll enjoy this album, and you already know it.
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Song Facts Forum
Her pop songs are catchy, her deeper songs are touching, her oddball songs are great.
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Turntable Lab
This 4th album, originally released in 2008, is Sia's more direct approach to pop; gone is the darker electronica that she built her career on up to that point, and in comes laid-back, easy-listening material, w/ the same sophistication and effortless swag that made people pay attention to her in the first place.
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Muziek
Her album has a richly orchestrated sound in which her typical jazzy voice is more than ever at the center.
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Record Collector
To be fair to her, while there’s nothing astonishing on the album, there’s nothing offensive, either. Indeed, “inoffensive” may well be the best descriptor
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Modern Vinyl
It’s not bad, but by no means does it ever really demand to be put on the turntable and played.
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Web Wombat
Sia's "Some People Have Real Problems" is a sign of an artist that is not just "Australia's Next Export", but moreso, "The World's Next Star".
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Lemon Wire
The album displays a more upbeat pop-style than Sia’s previous downbeat albums, whilst show-casing Sia’s vocals on a number of big ballads.
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Common Sense Media
Some people may have real problems, but anyone with this album won't have a problem listening to it again and again.
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Contactmusic
Her third album, Some People Have Real Problems showcases decisions suffering from atrophy, . . . .
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antiMusic
Although Sia sounds nothing like Annie Lennox, much of Some People Have Real Problems reminds me of those great old Eurythmics CDs, where contemporary technology nicely meshed with sound soul instincts.
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laut.de
For Indiefans, the record may be a touch too catchy, but the mainstream popper may be disturbed by Sia's intense vocal work.
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Cyclic Defrost
I couldn’t declare this a bad album. Musically, it can tend towards blandness, but is always played and recorded well.
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IGN
There is something wrong when an album's best song is its hidden track.
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College Candy
Some People Have Real Problems is everything lacking in commercial music today – earnest, with incredible vocals, lyrical intensity, and depth.
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Independent
She's still trafficking in touchy-feely sentiments for hard-done-by gals, but her outlook has improved considerably from the bereavement that coloured previous releases . . . .
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Campus Circle
If you experience those problems or not, Sia offers reprieve with soft sounding yet hard-hitting lyrics that exude inspiration from childhood and the adult life that shatters the Crayola concoctions under the magnet on your fridge.
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Catherine Elaine
Ending with the upbeat Buttons, the album is full of variety. Sia has a great vocal range that suits several different types of songs.
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Tucson Citizen
But while it’s usually wise to stay out of other people’s troubles, you’ll want to get caught up in the drama Sia has to offer on her second solo CD.
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Manchester Evening News
SIA'S episodic recording career has yet to yield her just commercial desserts, but this extremely classy collection of songs should finally do the business.
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People
Sultry and soulful, Sia creates an alluring mood on her third solo album.
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Orlando Sentinel
. . . Sia's Some People Have Real Problems has its promising moments. It's her third studio album, and these 13 songs are solid, if unadventurous, creations.
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